Breaking the rules

In our time here, the Wood family has established a couple of rules for travel within Europe:

1. If it's less than eight hours away, it's cheaper and easier for a family of four to drive than to fly or take a train.

2. Only travel to countries that use the Euro. Anything else requires too much mental effort, and who wants to think that hard on vacation? Plus, you're going to get stuck with some leftover cash that you'll probably never need again.

Of course, our trip to Prague this Saturday will break both of those rules. First, although the Czech Republic is part of the European Union, they haven't yet adopted the Euro. They use the Czech Koruna. The ratio today is about 19:1. That means that a dinner that costs $40 is about CZK 760. That's going to take some mental gymnastics.

Second, we're flying because we're going with a huge group from my company. I believe we're up to 23 people now, although I've started to lose count. Also, I'm not sure what driving conditions are like in the former Eastern Bloc. They're probably fine, but it seems a little more foreign to me than someplace like Germany or France.

One highlight of the trip if you happen to be Tanner is that we've arranged for a Hummer limo to pick up some of our group at the airport and take us to our hotel. It's about a 45-minute trip. You have to understand that when Tanner dreams at night, he dreams about Hummer limos. When he doodles, he draws Hummer limos. If you see him doing his usual jumping and flapping thing, there's a good chance he's thinking about Hummer limos. It should be the higlight of his life to ride in a Hummer limo. He doesn't know the plan, so he should be pleasantly surprised as we're leaving the airport in Prague.